News
Don’t fall for scammers claiming your account holds drug money
View(s):By Nidarshani Wickramasinghe
A group of scammers pretending to be police officers or bank employees are deceiving people into transferring out money from their accounts on the pretext that they (the scammers) are investigating funds that have been deposited into such accounts by drug traffickers, police warned this week.
If anyone receives such calls, they should not transfer money into the accounts of any unknown party and must immediately inform the police.
While young people are usually cautious, senior citizens often panic and follow instructions given by scammers, said a senior official from the Special Crimes Investigation Unit (SCIU) of the Mirihana police. In some cases, death threats have been made, and fear has prompted victims to transfer money from their bank accounts to the scammers.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT)’s Lead Information Security Engineer, Charuka Damunupola, said the country’s digital banking system was secure but that online banking security is heavily reliant on the user.
“The real problem is that when people receive scam calls, they panic and give out their OTP and passwords,” he said. “So never share your OTP or password with any third party. If you receive such a call, stay calm, get the details, hang up and then contact your bank directly.
Do not share bank details, the NIC number, login details, OTP, passwords, PIN numbers or photographs, and do not click on suspicious links, police also urged. Use only verified accounts, and always confirm the identity of the person when transferring money, the SLCERT expert advised.
Fraud attempts must be reported immediately to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
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